Last Skyline of 2007

[AlanK]

My son Eric and I hiked Skyline today. The only people we encountered below Long Valley were four hikers who had camped overnight. (They were a subject of discussion, including a bit of unnecessary worry, in a separate, earlier thread.) I don't know if we will end up being the last people to head up Skyline in 2007, but it will be our last trip for the year.

We got going from the end of Ramon Dr. at 5:20 and made good time until around Flatrock. We started to encounter snow above about 5000' and had pretty continuous snow above about 6000'. The going got slower, but conditions were nice. The traverses approaching the final steep section were easy, with nice, deep, soft snow. The steep section was also in good shape. We ended up getting to Long Valley around 10:30.

We ended up passing on hitting the peak -- we had to get home early. We did go as far as Round Valley. The Long Valley-Round Valley hike featured some hard-packed snow and was a bit more tedious to negotiate. But we never had occasion to use the crampons and ice axes we shlepped up the entire way from Ramon Dr.

It was a truly beautiful day for a hike!

Pix

[guest]

Hi Alan, thanks for the update.
You guys were fortunate with the conditions. Thanks for leaving a good route in the snow.

I did Skyline today, the 1st one up in 08!
I highly recommend Ice Axe, cramp-ons & some real mountaineering experience now.

Even though I didn't find as much snow remaining as you 2, it's now mostly hard packed and some areas of icing.

There's plenty of exposure in the trees now, at least 2 new dead trees over the trail again. Many folks can be very tired at this point, get a little punchy, and not be able to recover from even a small slip, which is very possible now.

This trail changes conditions fast this time of year, and now 2 more stroms may hit us.

My serious suggestion, wait till spring (when snow is mainly gone) and really enjoy the hike.

Happy New Year,

ss

[AlanK]

Happy New Year, ss... and everyone else here.

Yes, conditions change rapidly up there. I would certainly not venture up Skyline without being prepared to turn around due to bad conditions. However, I'm glad you made it for the first Skyline of '08!

[Cy Kaicener]

Great Scott - Scott. I would not have thought anyone would try and go up there in such windy conditions. Maybe it was not as windy as Rialto where some tiles blew off our roof. Congratulations.

[guest]

Hi Guys,
I got lucky on the weather, 1/2 sunny, 1/2 whispy high clouds, I say it stayed in the 50's, low 60's most of the time.
The wind didn't pick up till the trees, where it was a partial Santa Ana, so it came from behind & was warmer than the usual wind, which by the way made the very last stretch more icy.

cheers,

ss

[zippetydude]

Great job Alan & Co., and ss.

Cy, nowhere in the known universe is as windy as Rialto. I used to live off of Linden above the airport. I live in Yucaipa now, and if I had dropped a feather this morning it would have landed on my feet. If I tried that when I used to live in Rialto, it would have landed in Newport Beach.

Hopefully these storms will put some more snow up in the wilderness. If things keep up this way, we'll actually get in some snowshoe action!

Happy New Year!

z

[magikwalt]

Hey Scott,

I went up to 4500ft late to day. I saw boot prints that would have fit Frankenstein. I wear a pretty large shoe at size 13 but these were huge.

Did he go with you?

[Perry]

Did he go with you?

you mean bigfoot? he doesn't need a professional guide.

[guest]

Well,
Actually, Bigfoot has never done Skyline, so I agreed to take him, that dude has a huge stride, and he smells too! We scared the hell out of a few people on the Museum trail, at least they can say they saw him!

Walt, I saw those too, I believe they must have been that group of 4 referred to as the backpackers, who the tram guys said came up on the 2nd day in good shape.

We should hire this guy to cut the trail each time it snows!